✏️ Sample Solved Problem (IRAC Method) — KSLU Bsa Notes

✏️ Sample Solved Problem (IRAC Method)

Problem: A party’s own witness, in the box, resiles from his earlier statement and begins to favour the opponent. Can the party cross-examine and impeach his own witness?

I — Issue

Whether a party may cross-examine and impeach a witness it called, where the witness turns hostile.

R — Rule

Section 157 (← IEA S.154) — the court may, in its discretion, permit the party who calls a witness to put cross-examination-type questions to him; i.e. to treat him as hostile when he resiles or suppresses the truth. His credit may be impeached, including by his prior inconsistent statement (S.158).

A — Analysis

The decoy is the old maxim that “a party cannot impeach its own witness.” The BSA expressly displaces that: when a witness called by a party betrays hostility — here, by favouring the opponent and departing from his earlier version — S.157 empowers the court to grant leave to cross-examine him. On obtaining leave, the party may confront him with his earlier statement and test him as an adverse witness. Crucially, hostility does not wipe out his testimony: the court may still rely on the reliable, corroborated portions (Sat Paul), and the prior inconsistent statement may be used to contradict him.

C — Conclusion

Yes — with the court’s leave under S.157, the party may cross-examine and impeach its own hostile witness; his evidence is not wholly effaced, and the trustworthy part may still be relied upon.

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